The event was a beginners tournament (although it allowed for 'new to faction' experienced players) with two 35 point lists apiece, using Divide and Conquer (each list must be used at least once). I'd run though a few different options in my practice games, generally trying to get the hang of the timed turns that were used in the tournament which I'd not experienced before. Eventually I settled on the following:
The Harbinger of Menoth +5
-Reckoner -8
-Devout -5
-Heirophant -2
Min Choir -2
Vassal of Menoth -2
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon -3
Paladin -2
Max Exemplar Errants -8
Errant UA -2
Rhupert Carvolo -2
Visigoth Juviah Rhoven and Honour Guard -4
Servath Reznik, Wrath of Ages +4
-Crusader -6
Avatar -11
Min Choir -2
Vassal of Menoth -2
Max Bastions -8
Bastion Seneschal -3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist -2
Wracks -1
Vassal Mechanic -1
Both lists had been tweaked and developed from their original forms during my test games and I wasn't especially confident in either. My main goal was to avoid being one of the bottom players and end up somewhere in the middle.
Game 1 - Khador
This was the first game and we were starting with 10 minute timed turns, playing the Incursion Scenario. I was quite relieved to be starting with Khador, as it was one of the armies I knew my eReznik list would do better against, but his was the list I was least confident in, and I was hoping to play him early to avoid being locked in later in an unfavourable match up. I chose Reznik and my opponent (whose army was gorgeously painted and set on lovely hand made bases, which won best painted) plumped for Butcher's prime incarnation.
The game was fairly balanced, and I repeatedly rolled low for the Avatar's Focus pool, 'limiting' his effectiveness but thanks to Iron Aggression he was still an insane powerhouse and wrecked a Juggernaught in two turns as well as killing two of the Great Bears. The Bastions weathered a charge from a pair of assassins and a full unit of Shield Walled, Iron Zealed Iron Fang pikemen, to retaliate by brutally wiping the pikemen out. There was only one control point scored in the game after he cleared the central flag by throwing the Avatar across the board. Reznik and Eiryss destroyed a full unit of ambushing Kossites that got in my back arc and managed to kill my Monk, proving how capable a battle engine cavalry caster could be.
The game was won when the Butcher charged the Bastions who had Death March upkept on them. He managed to kill one of the seriously wounded heavy infantry but in my turn a trio of Blessed Mat 9 weapon master attacks from Vengence followed by their in-activation attacks finished the caster off.
It was a good first game and I did enough damage to earn a large number of victory points, which was a mixed blessing as my next round oppenent was a much higher skill level than myself. The two best aspects of the game for me were getting to use eReznik effectively which I was excited for (see my previous post - http://mitsuharu-on-minis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/mini-thoughts-vengeance.html?m=1) but also being able to enjoy two lovingly (if I say so myself) painted armies duke it out.
Game 2 - Retribution of Scyrah
My second game (after a delicious Burrito for lunch, included in the ticket price) was against the (spoiler alert) eventual winner of the whole tournament, who was a competitive Trollbloods player using a borrowed Retribution army. Having never played against, read into or watched Retribution I had no idea what to do about them or how they would play. We picked lists and I went for Harbinger, for three reasons, firstly I was more (unjustifiably) confident with her list, secondly I knew he would be fielding a quicker list and the feat and Fear of God would slow him down, and finally I knew that eReznik was too big and easy to shoot against a Ret list that could bring lots of magic to the table to negate Suffering's Prayer. My oppenent chose Garryth, the Mage Hunter Caster who specialises in quick assassinations.
I did not play the game well at all, making an activation mistake and not getting my feat off in the first turn due to a rules misunderstanding. I was on the back foot throughout the game and his support solos negated multiple threats in my list. My Errants got into combat with a heavy but just failed to cripple it and were wiped out in return. And by the end of turn three his caster used an assortment of movement tricks to line up a charge on Harbinger, winning the game by assassination, with me gaining no control or victory points at all. This at least gave me time to recover before the next game started!
Game 3 - Cygnar
Game three was another fairly balanced game with an experience edge going to my opponent. As my opponent was Cygnar I knew there would be too much magical shooting to risk using eReznik and so I decided to drop Harbinger again. My opponent had a pair of quite unusual lists, with Kraye and a pair of Heavies in one and a Stryker3 Cavalry heavy list for the other. He decided on Kraye.
I managed to get my feat right this game, holding his infantry back in the early game and damaging the jacks that did advance. The Errants were picked apart by Gun Mages but managed to destroy an objective, giving me a point, as well as kill a bunch of Stormblades. One of the pair of Stormclads charged by Reckoner and took it down to only a handful of boxes, unfortunately for him those boxes included my melee arm and the cortex allowing me to scrap his jack in return.
The game ended when he managed to use a combination of Kraye's spell Full Tilt, his feat and a boost from Strangewayes to charge right across the board, ignoring free strikes, to hit Harby who'd been forced to move into an unfavourable position due to my army positioning and the Kill Box. This left his caster completely exposed, with no focus and both my Paladin and Dartan with clear charges to him next turn. This was a Hail Mary pass. His charge attack connected but didn't do enough damage on its own to kill her, and he just managed to get in another, boosted, damage roll to finish her off with seconds left on the clock. It was a close game, that could easily have gone the other way if his run hadn't succeeded. But he'd killed my caster, netting me my second loss.
Game 4 - Menoth
In my final game I was shuffled down in the random pairings. These were based on numbers of wins/losses but in the case of odd numbers one random player would be shuffled down to the tier below. This was me, and my opponent was on 3 losses, and was one of the less experienced players. The list he decided to use was an eFeora list, that had a number of similarities to my own that I was using in the Journeyman League. I chose eReznik as it was my heavier hitting list and I was feeling let down by my usage of Harbinger
He made a number of mistakes throughout the game, such as not using Conbined Melee, Shield Wall or Iron Zeal with his TFG, never mini-feating with the zealots despite facing down a full unit of Bastions. Worst of all on several turns he forgot to allocate any focus to his Jacks. This made it a slightly easier game for me, as I knew everything in his army comprehensively, and he seemed quite unsure of how his army worked best. The Crusader, Avatar and eEyriss took out the TFG, the bastions chewed through the Zealots and Reznik smashed the Daughters, and by the end of the game there was only the support and Jacks left on his side of the board.
I got the win when he charged the Avatar with his Reckoner. He hit and did a few boxes of damage to him, before I Enliven'd out of melee and just across from Feora. Eiryss shot the focus off her and I rolled four focus for the Avatar, who had Iron Agression upkept all game. The end result was a very dead caster and a sizeable chunk of victory points to boot.
Conclusion
I walked away with 2-2, one close loss and a resounding defeat from the overall winner, and a result I was happy with. I also managed to get myself a bunch of new toys while I was there which is always a win in itself. It was a fun experience I'd be happy to repeat and most of the guys there were great to meet and talk to. My lists didn't play exactly as I'd thought they would but that's half the fun!
Thanks for reading and look out for more posts to come!
-M
"Reznik smashed the daughters" I bet he did! Lol
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